Leader
by Tomomori
Summary: It's just another crazy day on Berk, which leaves Astrid to think thoroughly about how Hiccup is important to the whole village... And how does she feel about it all.


None of them ever paid any attention just how much they were depending on him.

After another long and troublesome day, Astrid was looking out the window, watching the sea glittering under the moonlight.

The day didn't start out as crazy as it became later. They were making their usual surveillance rounds around the island, when hell just decided to blow up in their faces.

The ground of the island started growl and shake, scaring both Vikings and dragons. The latter were up in the air right away and in their panicked state blew up a few houses and injured several of the villagers. The shaking sent out a few remaining Whispering Deaths from the tunnels under Berk and said dragons made a ruckus. The water seemed to rumble as well, and some Thunderdrum came out, attacking the patrolling teens who were watching the scene dumbfounded. Snotlout, Fishlegs and Hiccup were caught totally off guard or were just too slow and confused to move in time and all three with their dragons were plucked into the icy water. Even though Hiccup and his cousin came up right away on the back of Toothless and Hookfang, and with the help of Astrid and Stormfly they helped Fishlegs and Meatlug out of the sea, the drenched teens fought off the panicky dragons both from the sea and the village, it was still a huge luck that they could pull it off, considering they even got an Outcast attack in the middle of it all.

Now, when things seem to have calmed down, she remembered how they all looked after it was over. She, herself had several small injury and a few burn marks after calming down some of their dragons and fighting against Outcasts, Tuffnut and Ruffnut had relatively few injuries, most of them from arguing over who should they help and how, Fishlegs got a broken nose from a scared Gronckle crashing right into him, Snotlout got a big cut on his arm – a lucky shot from an Outcast – and burn marks, only half of them made by an agitated Hookfang. And lastly, Hiccup. Astrid cringed as she remembered how the boy leaned on Toothless for support, clearly more than exhausted, covered in bruises, cuts and burn marks as well and shivering and shaking visibly, his face flushed in an unhealthy red, something that got Fishlegs and Snotlout later as well, consequence of their unintended bath.

And yet, Astrid had to _force_ Hiccup back to his house to rest. After a whole day of rushing from one point to another and back, calming scared dragons and forcing Outcast ships to retreat and helping the village get everything under control, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third had _still_ wanted to go help herding scattered animals, clearing away boulders or doing anything useful at all. While Astrid sat up behind him on Toothless' back to keep him from getting away, the girl heard some hardly conscious muttering of how he didn't want to be a waste of space anymore, which struck her hard. She knew it came from how they usally treated him, before or after he defeated the Red Death. It's true that they weren't as rude to him as they were before but most people still looked through him like air whenever he tried to get them to do something.

As she was enjoying the crispy night air, she could hear the several men still working in the village to get everything back on track. There was one voice that boomed especially far: Stoick the Vast was giving orders and was running from one end to another, helping his people where it was needed.

Now that she thought about it, Hiccup acted a lot like his father. In leadership methods at least. Whenever Berk faced a problem, the boy, just like his dad, was always in the front line, doing everything he could to solve it. It didn't matter whether it was dragon-related or not. He was always there, and he always found a solution. Just like the time when it came to save his father and the tribe from the wrath of the Red Death or when he stopped the war between the Vikings and dragons or when the peace between tribes had to be kept or when the Outcasts or other enemy tribes attacked - Hiccup stood up and acted like he's not only the son of a chief in name but in mind and soul as well.

Astrid suddenly thought that Stoick probably doesn't even know about Hiccup's condition, even though Gothi, who she asked to check up on the boy, sent a kid to her that the teen would get better after some rest. Several weeks of rest, preferably.

As she quickly put on some clothes, she wondered about that. She could understand why the old healer said that, of course. Whether it was calm or wild, Hiccup has always had a frown on his face, and Astrid often noticed worry in his eyes, in his features. The boy tried his best to be ready for anything that might come, 24/7. The blonde girl thought it must be pretty tiring to shoulder everything coming their way and at the same time bearing with the fact that he still wasn't considered a proper Viking, a proper member of their tribe.

She finally exited the door and walked down the street following the chief's voice. Actually, Hiccup would once step into his father's place and lead the tribe. To Astrid, it seemed still so far away, but not really impossible. The boy has showed already, how good a leader he would be. He's thinking a lot, something that most people on Berk aren't really capable of, and he can have brilliant ideas as well. Not all the time, but whenever he messed up, he knew how to admit it. Even his father has hardships with that. And after apologizing, he fixes what he wrecked. He also listens to others' opinions and ideas around him and takes them into consideration. Then, his confidence. Astrid remembered clearly the first time she saw Hiccup really confident and determined. It was the night she rode on Toothless the first time. At that time, Hiccup's confidence and determination has persuaded her to obey his wish. No, that's wrong… It has made her respect him. And later, it made the other members of the group respect him. Even Snotlout obeyed, if Hiccup told him to do something. Which, the girl thought, was pretty impressive.

She suddenly bumped into a wall. No, wait, she looked up and yes, it was Stoick. The chief bent down a bit to take a closer look at Astrid.

"What are you doing up so late? I thought you'd be tired after today, and you're injured too."

"Uhh, sir, I wanted to ask whether you know about Hiccup or not."

"Hiccup? Is something wrong with him? Is he all right?"

"Yes, um, he's overexerted himself and has a slight fever, but Gothi said that with a lot of rest he will be good as new."

The leader looked at her for a few moments, taking in the information, then he straightened out and bellowed over his shoulder:

"Gobber, I leave the rest to you!"

Said Viking nodded and continued on with cleaning up the village, while Stoick took Astrid's arm – the girl staring a bit surprised how his large hands covered up her whole forearm – and dragged her along carefully to his house. There, they headed upstairs – Hiccup's room. When they arrived, they met the sleepy eyes of a huge, pitch black reptile resting his head on his rider's hips, so as to let him breathe properly. Toothless cooed kindly before turning his head to look at his boy, watching as Astrid took the warmed up cloth from his forehead and replaced it with a cool one.

Stoick touched the dragon's head before bending down over his son and caressing his face with an oh so big hand.

Sick and helpless like this, Hiccup looked even smaller and weaker than he usually was, but Astrid didn't see a Hiccup like that.

She smiled and nodded to herself confidentally. Yes, this tough, strong man is the one she would follow to the end of the world, who she would trust with her life.

This man was the tribe's future leader.

The leader she followed.

* * *

So, I had this thought for a long time, but when I heard Dagur tell Hiccup how they're born leaders, I decided to write this.

"We're both born leaders."

"He's right about that"

I hope you like it, I don't own HTTYD, sadly. But, I at least own this story, so...


End file.
